Fishing

We were lucky enough to coordinate a camping trip with my cousin Ryan and his family at Juanita Lake, California. The campground is located roughly equidistant between my cousin who lives in California and us up in Oregon. Juanita Lake is about 45 minutes South of Klamath Falls, Oregon.

I took Friday off (Katie is lucky and has all Friday's off) to have another long weekend to go camping. This trip we towed our travel trailer to Rock Creek Reservoir near Wamic, Oregon. My friend Tyler and his wife Holli joined us Friday night.

We had booked three nights at LaPine State Park for Memorial Day weekend back in December after we ordered our trailer. Finally Memorial Day is here and some good weather too. The State Park's proximity to Sunriver and the Cascade Lakes Sceneic Byway make it an ideal location to serve as a base camp for outdoor adventures.

We finally received our new trailer we ordered in December. Our maiden trip was to Fort Stevens State Park during the annual Astoria Seafood and Wine Festival. Normally we have a bunch of friends who join us, but they all bailed this year. Instead Katie's mom my parents and sister from Nevada made the trek to join us for a fun weekend of camping. We took Friday and Monday off to make it a four day weekend.

Katie, Julian, and I spent the Memorial Day weekend camping in Central Oregon at Fall River camp ground. This is one of my favorite places in the area. It is a primitive campground with no potable water and rarely crowded. We were able to easily find a spot when we arrived on Friday.

With a beautiful weekend forecast, we decided to go tent camping to Bonney Crossing campground with our friend John. Bonney Crossing is a small (less than 10 sites) primitive (no drinking water) campground at the Eastern edge of the Badger Creek Wilderness right along Badger Creek. It is located off FS road 2710 (about 2.5 miles North of Rock Creek Reservoir as the crow flies). Wamic is the closest town.

Shad have started going over Bonneville Damn, so that means its time to start fishing the Willamette River for them. Katie has every other Tuesday off from work, so I have decided to leave early from work on corresponding Tuesdays to take the whole family shad fishing.

I haven't been fishing in awhile and when my friend John suggested we go trout fishing sometime, I thought of Rock Creek Reservoir. It's a 100 acre (when full in the spring) reservoir and is stocked several times in the Spring with rainbow trout. It shrinks down to a pond by the end of summer. Rock Creek Reservoir is located in Tygh Valley within the Mount Hood National Forest. It's about 6 miles WSW of the town of Wamic. Rock Creek Campground is located on the Southeast shore of the lake and has 33 sites with water and outhouses nearby.

It has been a couple years since we last went deer hunting. Things have been busy with our son being born two years ago and building our house last year. But now it's time to get back in the grove.

John and I have been talking about hunting a unit further east out of the trees, but we decided to keep it simple this year and hunted White River 141B like we have in the past. Opening day was Saturday, October 3rd. It is a tough unit to hunt as it is on the crest of the Cascades in Northern Oregon. The area is mostly dense mixed forest and packed with hunters.

My parents love Central Oregon and booked a long weekend at the Fall River Guard Station over my Mom's birthday. Lucky for us, their plans changed and they gave us their reservation for the cabin. The Fall River Guard station is on South Century Drive off of hwy 97 at the headwaters of Fall River. It is only a couple miles from the Fish Hatchery, close to where I love to fly fish. The cabin is available to rent from May through October.

Before heading to Sunriver on Friday morning to spend Memorial Day weekend with our family, we stopped to fly fish nearby Fall River. It is a relatively short cold spring fed river that flows into the Deschutes River. There are rainbow, brown, and brook trout that call Fall River home. Fishing is restricted to artificial barbless flies.

John's friend Joe plans an annual guys camping trip near Lake Harriet every year around the trout stocking schedule. This years trip fell in the middle of April and John invited me to join them.

Lake Harriet is a 22 acre reservoir on the Oak Grove Fork of the Clackamas River. It is located about 47 miles Southeast of Portland. There is a campground on the East end (upriver end) hosting 11 primitive sites.

After dropping my son off at Grandma's for the day, I met my friend John at the Swan Island boat ramp to try my hand at catching a chinook. John and his dad were nice enough to pick me up in their boat with everything ready to go.

After a disappointing several months looking for a new home, we finally made time to go camping with our one year old Mini-Adventurer. Katie and I decided to celebrate our 10 year anniversary with our son while staying in a yurt at Devil's Lake State Park near Lincoln City, Oregon. Normally we camp in a tent or our trailer, but decided to try something different. This was our first time in one of the many yurts available in campgrounds across Oregon.